You and Me and Him
by Yessica-N
Summary: Snorkmaiden was assertive to a fault, always preferring to take care of problems quickly and directly. Even if that problem involved her boyfriend being in love with his best friend.


**Obviously Snufkin/Moomin is a god tier ship but Moomin/Snorkmaiden is adorable too. Then my girlfriend opened my eyes to the possibility of Snufkin/Snorkmaiden and an OT3 and this fic was born.**

* * *

Anybody with a working pair of eyes could plainly see that Moomin was absolutely, completely, head over heels in love with Snufkin.

It wasn't exactly surprising. Moomin was the kind of person who craved adventure, who always went looking for some interesting situation to absorb himself into or a new story to be a part of. Who utterly lived for excitement, no matter where that may lead him.

But Moomin was also the kind of person who often found those things in others instead of himself, and when it came to interesting or new, Snufkin stood out in Moominvalley like a Woodie in a row of Hattifatteners.

Most of the other creatures in the valley were of a more complacent nature. While many fascinating and sometimes rather bizarre things happened there, most of them regarded these happenings with a kind of detached unease, largely concerned whether this latest strange occurrence was likely to intervene with their habitual afternoon tea.

Snufkin was of the wandering variety though. Somebody who knew a whole lot but said very little, full of surprises and unexpected musings, who distanced himself from others but was always kind and polite in the most unmundane ways possible. It wasn't hard to imagine why so many adored him, and it wasn't hard to imagine why Moomin was smitten with him.

And he wasn't exactly subtle about it either. It was only for so long that a boy could stare longingly out the window wondering when his best friend would reappear to figuratively _and _literally chase away the cold of winter before people became suspect.

So it came to be that everybody knew. Everybody but Moomin himself, who was all kinds of amazing but could be daft as a pile of bricks when it concerned Snufkin. And Snufkin himself, who had the average communication skills of a potato and was not at all adapt at handling emotional matters. So there wasn't much hope of the situation resolving by itself.

People often asked Snorkmaiden if this irritated her. Moomin was _her_ boyfriend after all, had been ever since they started playing house and make-believe on the grassy downs of the valley and really, wasn't it rather irksome to see her love pining so desperately for another?

And if pressed she could tell them that yes, it bothered her. It bothered her endlessly, in fact. Just not for the reason most people assumed it did.

Principally, she just wanted Moomin to be happy. Snufkin made Moomin very happy. She herself made Moomin very happy as well. And he made her the happiest Snork in the world, because if anything he was devoted to her like no other was, kind and soft and thoughtful. He was just similarly devoted to Snufkin, of course, and seeing him tying himself into knots over the whole situation was what really bothered her at the end of the day.

The heart of the matter was simple. Moomin was in love with Snufkin. Snufkin was clearly in love with Moomin. Moomin was in love with Snorkmaiden as well, and she herself obviously fancied him a lot. But what people often forgot was that Snorkmaiden was friends with Snufkin too, had known him at least as long as Moomin had even and spent many sunny summer afternoons together in quiet contentment. And he wasn't exactly hard on the eyes either.

Moomin and her were already girlfriend and boyfriend of course. But the way she saw it there was no reason why Snufkin couldn't be their boyfriend also. The solution shouldn't be any more complicated than that.

* * *

"Do you like Moomin?"

Snufkin stalled for a moment, almost losing his grip on the fishing rod and having it tumble into the river. He recovered quickly though, fake-coughing politely into one fist instead but refraining from answering immediately. Snorkmaiden either didn't notice or didn't care, she was busy making flower crowns out of the wild geraniums that grew on the riverbank.

"Of course I do." He answered after a few moments, cautiously. Snufkin wasn't exactly opposed to company when that company was content with sitting in silence next to him enjoying the peaceful afternoon and not bothering him directly. But conversations that started with questions, particularly questions like these, had the disconcerting tendency of veering into terrain he rather steered clear of.

Moomin had taken Sniff and Little My on some kind of adventure today, Snorkmaiden decided to stay behind and that in itself should have been enough to tip him off that something was not right really.

But she didn't say anything more and Snufkin had just started thinking he might have been let off the hook (unlike the fish he was currently reeling in) when she spoke again.

"Do you _like_ like him though?"

The reel handle spun rapidly as he lost his grip once more, the minnow was probably under some sort of divine protection because it used the sudden slackness of the line to try and extract itself from the hook post-haste, and Snufkin didn't even have the presence of mind to notice.

"I don't know what you mean." He lied.

Snorkmaiden huffed, the kind of little annoyed huff some people do when they can tell you are telling them a fib but are too courteous to call you out on it directly. She finished her crown and put it on her head, trying to admire her own reflection in the river but the fish was causing too many ripples with its great escape attempt for her to see herself clearly.

There were another few tugs and then it succeeded in freeing itself and swam merely down the stream, saved from becoming Snufkin's dinner for at least another day. Snorkmaiden looked at him and if he didn't know any better he'd say she was smirking.

"I think you know exactly what I mean." She said.

"I really need to be getting back." He answered instead, dropping the fishing pole right then and there and leaving his bait too. Moominvalley wasn't exactly a hotbed for criminal activity so he was sure it would still be there when he came back for it.

And if not he could always get a new one.

For the next few days Snufkin avoided being alone with Snorkmaiden as much as possible. This wasn't exactly a hard thing to do, usually Moomin would be spending time with either of them (if not both of them) at any given moment after all.

But he noticed her watching him more shrewdly than was usual, as if analyzing his every movement and it made him slightly nervous. Normally Snufkin wasn't the kind of person to be much bothered by other people's opinions of him, but just once Moomin had embraced him in a moment of sudden exhilaration, throwing his paws around Snufkin's shoulder shortly and impulsively and he had been able to feel Snorkmaiden's eyes burning into his back.

Only on one occasion did she manage to corner him in the kitchen of the Moominhouse, staring at him intently for a moment, before standing at the counter next to him and watching him make coffee. Moominmamma had been so kind as to lend him her kettle, since he had lost his own during the previous winter.

Snorkmaiden leaned onto the countertop slightly, batting her eyelashes up at him almost innocently. Girls could be so weird sometimes. "I know you like Moomin."

"Oh?" Was the only noise he had been able to make at that moment.

"I think he likes you too."

And that had sent a very undignified blush all the way onto his cheeks, though he tried using his scarf as cover to hide it.

Snorkmaiden and Moomin were dating. Snufkin knew this. And he wasn't scared of a lot of things, you really can't be a good nomad if you are, but on the other hand there was this belief that hell hath no fury like a woman scorned and Snufkin had not the slightest intention of finding out if this was true.

"It's fine." He said, abandoning the coffee half-done. "It's nothing, really. We're just friends." And then he fled the kitchen without waiting to hear her response.

* * *

So far Snorkmaiden could only assume her purpose had been awfully misconstrued.

The subtle approach clearly wasn't relaying her intentions correctly, for Snufkin had taken to darting away from her at every chance, much like a frightened animal will do when backed into an unpleasant situation.

She had tried most everything she could think of now to get the conversation going without having to resort to drastic and dramatic gestures. Snufkin wasn't the type of person to go for those. It would make him uncomfortable, she knew. Then again, he had already begun to refuse to be around her at all lately, and by extension around Moomin too and that had quite been the opposite of her goal.

Though it would be unbecoming of a lady, she had no choice but to wait for the perfect opportunity to present itself and then do something completely uncouth.

The perfect opportunity did present itself a mere two days later. Snorkmaiden had been out for an evening walk, as she was sometimes wont to do, to admire the beauty of nature and also to get out of the house since her brother had worked himself up into a frenzy again about one thing or another.

She had stopped by the Moominhouse but her love wasn't there. It was reasonable to assume he might be off with Snufkin then, but when she crossed the bridge who should she find but the wanderer himself, busy at work on alighting his fire pit.

"Snufkin." She called, and the boy startled so badly he banged his head against the pot hanging above the fire. Snorkmaiden giggled, but hid it behind her hand. She was still a lady, despite what she was about to do.

"Snorkmaiden." He said, without turning around and while rubbing his forehead gingerly. "Moomin isn't here."

"I know." And she walked around to sit on the tree trunk opposite him.

She could tell Snufkin was thinking about running off again. He did that thing where his eyes darted around as if looking for convenient excuses. However, she didn't think he was desperate enough to abandon his tent, which was a lot harder to replace than a fishing rod, and leave his dinner to burn completely. In fact she was counting on it.

"Can we talk?"

Snufkin stopped tending to his forehead (which was probably less a case of concussion and more of crippled pride) and returned to his pot. "Of course." He mumbled. "We're talking right now."

"It's about Moomin."

"Is it?" He leaned back gingerly, the flames of the fire reflecting unsteadily in his dark eyes.

"I think he's in love with you."

"Do you?"

"I think you're in love with him as well."

"You reckon?"

Snorkmaiden crossed her arms and he looked at her for the first time since she arrived.

"I'm sorry." He said then and she could tell he was trying hard not to get flustered again. "But I can assure you it's really nothing."

"It doesn't have to be nothing though." She said, getting up and walking over and he straightened, tensing.

He took a step back but she ignored that. "Snorkmaiden, I really didn't mean to-"

She took both of his paws in hers then, effectively shutting him up. They were rough like tree bark, nothing like Moomin's, but warm too. His eyes were wide, and when he took another step back she followed.

"Nothing happened." He breathed quickly. "Really in fact, I think nothing ever happened or ever will. I do know how much he adores you and you adore him and surely you know I only wish to be a good friend-"

Snufkin was rambling now, voice just a tiny bit desperate and Snorkmaiden couldn't help but think herself cruel. Of course she could remedy that.

His lips were soft. She pressed against them firmly, so there might not be another misunderstanding as to her intentions now, and he swallowed any other words as she did so, nuzzling against him slightly.

When she pulled back she couldn't tell if his face was just that red or if it was the glow of the campfire.

"What was that?" He nearly squeaked, blinking numbly at her.

"It was a kiss, dummy."

"Was it?"

Snorkmaiden glared at him, annoyed. She had quite forgotten kisses were probably not the same for a Mumrik as they were for a Snork or Moomintroll, but he had seen her do this with Moomin enough times to know, surely.

So she did it again, light and feathery and he closed his eyes, pressing into the motion, his paws still clasped in hers. She could hear the frantic movements of a tail swaying side to side rapidly but didn't know if it was his or her own.

"Moomin?" He whispered, uncertain, once they pulled back. Snorkmaiden smiled.

"Oh, I think he will be quite pleased with the whole ordeal."

* * *

Snorkmaiden wasn't the type of person to think she was always right. Others might think she was self-absorbed at times, but really she only was in a round-about way. Things concerned her if they involved her and otherwise they were rather tedious.

The sun was still bright and the weather warm and lively for late autumn, though the trees had already changed hues to breathtaking colors. The flowers now were late-bloomers, the air heavy with their scent.

Snufkin shifted in the grass. Snorkmaiden didn't know if he was sleeping or not, his hat discarded somewhere to the side, but he looked very comfortable with his head resting in Moomin's lap. The troll was idly playing with their boyfriend's hair, which was becoming quite long now.

She leaned against Moomin's side, shoulder to shoulder and he turned to her and nuzzled her cheek for a moment. Then she leaned forward and booped Snufkin's nose, just because she could.

"I can't believe autumn is already ending." She sighed, as he opened his eyes to look at them for a moment. "And then you'll be leaving."

He hummed in answer, closing his eyes again and then smiling slightly. "I will have to write two goodbye letters this year then, I suppose."

"Or just one addressed to the both of us." Moomin said matter-of-factly, then adding slyly. "A grand love declaration, with a poem and everything."

Snufkin made a non-commital noise, using one hand to shield his face from the glaring sun, though it was more likely he was trying to hide his blush again.

He still wasn't very used to that word, even in reference to their newly blossoming relationship. Snorkmaiden knew it would only be a matter of time though.

"As long as you be careful in watching out for yourself." She said. "Then we will be watching out for each other. And missing you terribly."

Snufkin didn't comment, but it was clear that he knew. Next spring, there would be two people eagerly waiting for him to return.

* * *

**Tumlr: Sharada-n**


End file.
